Moving stimuli guide retrieval and (in)validation of coordination simulations

Abstract

According to theories of embodied cognition, visual stimuli can either facilitate or impede the retrieval of language meaning as multimodal perceptual simulations. Here, we introduced a novel experimental paradigm to test the hypothesis that moving stimuli (i.e., motion-defined objects) facilitate coordination comprehension. Participants read coordination descriptions and saw two colored lines that matched the descriptions. Two figures then selected the lines either by moving jointly along them or by standing each on a different line. Moving selections yielded high validation scores in conjunction trials and low validation scores in disjunction trials, whereas stationary selections yielded mitigated scores. The results demonstrate that jointly moving stimuli, which are effective cues to visual grouping, help retrieve and validate conjunction simulations composed of dependent stimuli as well as retrieve and invalidate disjunction simulations composed of independent stimuli. These findings challenge accounts based on truth-condition satisfaction that stimuli properties cannot affect language comprehension and thereby reasoning.

Gestalt Reasoning with Conjunctions and Disjunctions

“…The present paper builds on previous findings [ 5 ] suggesting that a general mechanism of information processing, namely parsing (aka ‘chunking’) shapes reasoning with conjunctions and disjunctions. While there is ample experimental evidence that incoming information is often chunked into smaller units to facilitate processing [ 11 – 12 ] the nature and properties of these chunks are largely unknown.…”

“…Nevertheless, experimental evidence increasingly suggests that naive reasoners forego formal rules and instead draw on general cognitive mechanisms when processing complex information. Accordingly, their responses are often modulated by stimuli perceptual properties [ 5 ], by metaphors that ground incoming information onto basic action patterns [ 6 – 7 ], or by mental models that represent, in analogical form, key elements in a message and the relationships between them [ 8 – 10 ].…”

“…Here, we advance the hypothesis that, when processing conjunctions and disjunctions, reasoners instantly build Gestalt-like representations (one and two mental objects respectively—cf. [ 5 ]), which generate perceptual compatibility effects predicted by key Gestalt principles (i.e., common fate, proximity, and similarity). As such, Gestalt representations of conjunctions and disjunctions are not unlike concrete object representations stored in long-term memory and therefore they should interact with the properties of the perceptual stimuli that reasoners manipulate when solving a particular task.…”

Editorial: Multisensory Integration: Brain, Body, and World

“…), language (Gallese, 2008 ; Myachykov and Tomlin, 2008 ; Myachykov et al, 2012 ; Lam et al . ; Shaw and Bortfeld ), embodied reasoning (Dumitru, 2014 ), sensory awareness ( Cox and Hong ), numerical cognition ( Dumitru and Joergensen ), auditory perception ( Brogaard and Gatzia ), and time perception ( Homma and Ashida ).…”

The ideomotor recycling theory for language

“…As expected, their attention shifted faster between two object parts (in this case, two representations belonging to the same Gestalt) than between two objects (two representations belonging to different Gestalts). Subsequent work by Dumitru (2014) confirmed that Gestalts generate perceptual compatibility effects such that visual groupings of a particular set of stimuli (e.g., two different-coloured lines) had complementary effects on validation scores for conjunction descriptions as opposed to disjunction descriptions. Importantly, language users need not be aware of the dynamics of the concept-grounding process (i.e., why they shift their gaze between stimuli at a certain speed), and there are no language-related constraints that might explain these differences in behaviour.…”